Hospice's annual dance will be fundraiser this year

Dec. 5, 2012

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Donna Harrison, who is blind and suffers from breast cancer, crochets a blanket at her home on Friday. Harrison received a grant from Oxford Health Care and Hospice to buy yarn. / Valerie Mosley/News-Leader

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A hospice can’t change the course of a disease, but it can offer help or comfort to people at the end of their lives.

Sometimes that assistance is financial, sometimes it’s emotional, and sometimes it’s as simple as a ball of yarn.

That’s one of the ways Donna Harrison has been helped by Oxford Healthcare and Hospice. Harrison, 83, is blind and has breast cancer, but spends her days crocheting blankets for charity with yarn donated to her through the Oxford hospice fund.

She is such a prolific crocheter — by her son’s count she cranks out about a mile a day — she’d spend about $60 a week making blankets and couldn’t afford that. That is where Oxford steps in. This Saturday, there is a dance to benefit the Oxford Healthcare Hospice Fund, which helps people like Harrison with various expenses.

The Snow Ball features live music from 7-10 p.m. at the Howard Johnson Ballroom. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.

The foundation fund is used to meet exceptional expenses for patients with terminal illnesses and their families. Those expenses range from lift chairs, rent and utilities to even help for a family to buy Christmas gifts, said Julie Burnell, community outreach coordinator for Oxford.

The fund was established four years ago and has been used to help 300 people.

“The need was there ... We have so many senior patients who are elderly and lacked resources. Make-A-Wish helps children, but we don’t have a Make-A-Wish for adults,” Burnell said.

With the downturn in the economy, donations have not kept pace with the requests, and Burnell fears that staff will have to start turning down requests.

So staffers decided to turn the Snow Ball, an annual dance, into a fundraiser. Last year, the dance attracted 600 people but was a free event; Burnell hopes people turn out to support this program.

Prolific with a smile

On this day, Harrison sits in her chair and crochets a black and white blanket. She counts the stitches and rows with her hand.

Cataracts claimed her vision when she was 45, but Harrison still worked until she was in her 60s. She worked in a hospital in the laundry department.

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“I liked that job,” she said with a smile, crocheting as she spoke.

Harrison makes one to two blankets a week, but used to be able to craft three.

When asked how she manages to crochet everything from purses to blankets to wall hangings without a pattern, she just chuckles and says the patterns are “all in my head.”

Her work has garnered her numerous blue ribbons at the Ozark Empire Fair and at fairs in Florida, where she used to live.

Yarn might seem trivial, but it’s as important as the medication Harrison takes. It makes her feel useful. She’s alert and cognitively active, and crocheting increases her mobility, Burnell said.

“It’s not just a ball of yarn, it’s a whole lot more. It keeps her occupied and makes her feel good, which means she’s more likely to eat,” Burnell said.

Harrison was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2011, but because of her age, elected not to do surgery or chemotherapy.

“We’re lucky to still have her. We didn’t think she’d made it this long,” said Diana Harrison, Donna’s daughter.

She won't take money for her work

Harrison donates most of the lap blankets to the Mount Vernon Veteran’s Home, but over the years, has made hundreds, if not thousands, of blankets and prayer shawls for veterans, hospital patients and others.

In the corner of her room, there’s a stack of blankets she’s crocheted in the past month.

“She won’t take money for them. People have offered to pay her or buy one and she says ‘No, just take it,’” said Diana Harrison.

Donna’s grandmother Clementine Myer taught her to crochet when she was 10 or 12, but Harrison didn’t pick it back up until she was blind and took a class; she also weaves baskets.

Tamara Zarechi, social worker with Oxford HealthCare, has worked with the family since February and says it’s amazing to watch Harrison make “everything totally by feel. It’s very rewarding to meet amazing people like her.”

But with the cost of yarn averaging $30 a blanket, Diana Harrison said her mom could not afford it without Oxford’s help.

“The donation is a huge, huge help,” said Diana Harrison.

It is Donna’s son Mike who calculates Harrison’s crocheting about a mile of yarn a day. This is her form of therapy, and her therapy helps others.

Which is exactly what Oxford staff hope to hear.

“The way we view hospice is you play the hand your dealt the best you can,” Burnell said. “We can’t reverse the course of terminal illness, but we can make the most of the time they have left and offer spiritual and emotional support for them and their families.”